User:Hmselana/Eretz Acheret

Eretz Acheret (lit. “A Different Place”) is  an independent, not-for-profit magazine that provides a forum of intellectual depth, serious discourse, and critical journalism amid the contemporary landscape of Israeli media, in order to advance the social, cultural, intellectual and ethical development of the Jewish people and Israeli society. This forum includes a bi-monthly Hebrew magazine, periodic English magazines, an active on-line presence, and conferences.

Philosophy
Eretz Acheret founder, Bambi Sheleg, believes that Israeli society is suffering from a “media of distraction”, which floods the national culture with trivial topics such as scandals, celebrity, and hype. The Israeli media highlights extremists in every social sector, she says, and thus creates excessive social discord. The current glut of media outlets that are privately owned, profit-seeking ventures seeking out the highest ratings, she argues, obfuscates a sincere and profound public discourse and in-depth analysis of issues that are vital to the well-being of the people. This “media of distraction” pushes earnest public debate aside and favors magnifying trivialities to disproportionate sizes – at the expense of fateful moral and political issues. What has emerged from this situation, Sheleg says, is a “privatization of consciousness,” in which the media pushes the most scandalized, rating-boosting headlines over-emphasizing a sectarian view of Israeli society and the Jewish people. Israel lacks a media outlet that presents a systematic, organized vision of the Jewish people, one that takes into account all of the groups and all of social issues as part of a greater whole. This lack of vision leads to an ad-hoc approach to alleviating social, economic and national problems, and empowers sectarian groups that have economic or political power but have no interest in a broad public agenda. In addition, audiences are left with a very narrow and simplistic understanding of Israeli society and the Jewish people, an understanding which threatens the very fabric of the Jewish people.

Eretz Acheret seeks to remedy this problem by constituting a media outlet that is completely separate from the entertainment-profit-ratings media, and can this be entirely devoted to helping develop the intellectual spirit and social consciousness of the Israeli people and the Jewish people.

History
Since the year 2000, Eretz Acheret has produced a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to fighting for a social agenda, highlighting and support those working for renewal and change, and strengthening the presence of the society of citizens of Israel. In addition, Eretz Acheret facilitates conferences, discussions and other forums for cultural dialogue and debate on topics that parallel those discussed in the magazine. Eretz Acheret also hosts an English content website – with both translations and original material – and is in the process of creating a tri-lingual Internet magazine in English, Hebrew and Arabic.

Founder
Bambi Sheleg, founder and editor-in-chief, is an Israeli journalist and magazine editor dedicated to promoting a profound and wide-ranging Israeli and Jewish discourse that places emphasis on issues of society and identity. The heart and soul behind Eretz Acheret, Sheleg is a widely respected and talented journalist and leading Israeli thinker.

Influence on Israeli policy, law and legislation
Eretz Acheret has had measurable impact on Israeli society through its print magazine. Difficult issues, which up until that point had either been consciously ignored or downplayed by Israeli society, have received public attention and policy and governmental change due to the work of Eretz Acheret. Below are a few examples:

•	Journal #35: "A Time of Reckoning: What Strengthens Us and What Weakens Us” – dealing with social phenomena in Israel that were uncovered in the second Lebanon war. This journal was given tremendous coverage in the media, and writers and interviewees were invited to dozens of hearings, panel discussions, and closed hearings before the most important decision makers in Israel.

•	Journal #33: “Constitutional or Unconstitutional” – on the privatization of prisons in Israel. This journal served as a research and conceptual foundation for various actions: In light of this journal, the Supreme Court decided to delay its verdict by half a year on this issue and the Court encouraged the public to conduct a discussion on this matter; the general media, which had ignored this issue until the publication of our journal, gave the issue almost unprecedented coverage—and a majority of those speaking to the press on this topic were people who had written or had been interviewed in our journal. As one of our subscribers told us: “What would have happened had there not been Eretz Acheret? We would not have even known that this issue is on the public agenda.”

•	Journal #30: "Zionism that Disappointed: Ethiopian Jews in Israel” – representing the first document of its kind to bring to life the authentic voices of Ethiopian Israeli Jews without treating them as anthropological subjects. This journal serves the planning unit in the Office of the Prime Minister in welfare plans for the Ethiopian community and in rethinking its work with this community. This journal is also used by the staff members of the National Insurance Institute who work in the area of social welfare activities for the Ethiopian community.

•	Journal #20: “Bread of Affliction: Israel in the Eyes of the Bottom Decile” This journal gives voice to the poorest sector in Israel and asks how it sees and understands the society in which it lives. This journal was purchased by the Ministry of Social Welfare, and copies were forward to the Ministry's social workers to be used as professional enrichment material. Additionally, this journal was used as course material in Bar Ilan University's Social Work Department as an integral part of its curriculum, and it serves as background material for many professional conferences.

•	Journal #18: "Letter to Europe: The Continent through Israeli Eyes.” For many years the European Union has tried to shape the reality of the Middle East and to set ethical standards by which Israeli society needs to interact with Palestinians. In this journal, Israelis representing a wide range of perspectives write about their understandings of current European society. This journal was given tremendous coverage in the media and was translated into English by the Foreign Ministry, which disseminated 2,500 copies to European policy makers. Even though this journal was published three years ago, it is still accorded much attention, and it is regularly used as course material in the European Studies program at Ben Gurion University in the Negev.

•	Journal #16: “Arab Citizens of Israel Speak.” This was a pioneering attempt to allow the Israeli Arab public to speak in the first person concerning a variety of issues, through its best writers in different fields. It should be noted that Nazir Majli, the writer of the most important and encompassing article in the issue, received (in light of his article) a regular op-ed position in the Newspaper Haaretz, and since then coverage of his work continues to grow.

Other journals were afforded significant exposure and influence, and have catalyzed serious discussion of social issues that are usually only given superficial attention in the daily media. Eretz Acheret has a long shelf life, and journals that were published six years ago are still relevant and pertinent.